1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to golf club heads. More specifically, the invention is an improved golf club head constructed of various metals which minimize structural problems directly related to the club head performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various golf club heads have been devised for improving the performance of different styles of golf club heads via distinct structural designs. The present invention relates closely to the construction of golf club metalwood heads at least. A metalwood head is usually a hollow spherical shape comprising a hitting face, a crown, and a sole plate. The typical metalwood is formed through a lost wax casting process where the crown and face are combine in a single entity. A sole plate cast separately is then welded to the shell so formed.
Metalwood heads can also be formed through a forging process where the individual components of the golf head are formed separately and then welded to form a single entity. Whether cast or forged, metalwood heads are usually made of a single base metal or metal alloy such as stainless steel, titanium or aluminum.
Advances made in metallurgy have allowed golf club head manufactures to combine two or more metals in the construction of both metalwoods and iron heads. It is quite common nowadays to come across metalwood heads that are made of a stainless steel shell (i.e crown and sole) and a titanium hitting face and or metalwoods that are made of an aluminum and a titanium hitting face. The advantages of combining different metals and metal alloys in the construction of both metalwood heads and irons is that designers are given the freedom to use the physical and chemical properties of the metals in the construction to improve weight distribution, increase the moment of inertia, and improve structural strength of the golf club head at least. These and other improvements in the construction of the golf club heads through the use of two or more different metals will usually result in more forgiving golf clubs that are both accurate and longer off the tee. The conventional method by which one or metals are used to construct golf club heads are known. However, a golf club head which is weighted for balance and has a hitting face made of a combination of soft and hard metals which significantly reduces vibration throughout the club upon impact with a golf ball is lacking.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,396 issued to Shieh discloses a golf club head assembly which includes a hollow shell having a loop-like shock absorbing member, a second loop-like structure for blocking the passage through a front opening of the hollow shell, and a striking plate fitted into a front recess via mechanical screws in combination with adhesives. Mechanical screws have a tendancy to retract or fail over time from cyclical impact. In addition, more than two ring-like structures add to the over all weight of the club. This increase in weight on the front face of the club is known to contribute to unwanted rotations of the club head at the point of impact with a golf ball which produces undesirable golf ball trajectories off the tee.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,453 issued to Mack discloses a tunable golf club head configured in a similar fashion to that Shieh, except that the striking plate is adjustable or tunable via a plurality of tension springs or belleville washers. This style of club head is primarily a training club.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,994 issued to Chang discloses a golf club head having a single titanium face plate welded to die sections located within the shell of the club head. This is a conventional club head without the benefits of vibration dampening and perimeter weighting as herein described by the instant invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,8130 issued to Chen et al. teach a similar club head construction, but the construction has some vibration damping features.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,825 issued to Shira discloses a method of making golf club heads which comprises forming one or more components of the golf club head from sintered metal powders and then joining the components via welding, brazing, or diffusion or adhesive bonding. The golf club heads taught by Shira are produced without regard for vibration effects and perimeter weighting for metalwoods in particular. U.S. Design Pat. No. 369,392 issued to Adams et al. diagrammatically illustrates a metalwood type golf club without any apparent disclosure of the unique features as taught herein by the instant invention.
Other documents such as Foreign Patents by McCabe (EP 0577056), Yamashita (JP 6261960) and Tsuchiya (JP 6261961) are of general relevance to the instant invention. The patent by Yamashita, in particular, discloses methods of deep cold processing and aging hardness at various temperatures for shaping club heads.
The golf club head of the instant invention is different from the related art, in that it provides a club head which attenuates vibrations and reduces rotations upon impact with a golf ball via the unique cushioned face and perimeter weighting technique respectively. Thus, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a golf club head solving the aforementioned problems is desired.